In response to your recent coverage of the president’s policy in Iraq (see, for example, “Numbing Carnage,” March 17), I would like to point out that the House of Representatives passed an amendment to the 2006 Supplemental Appropriations Act which forbids the Pentagon from entering into any basing agreement with the government of Iraq. Shortly after the House acted, President Bush said he refused even to consider a timetable, insisting that the future of the Iraq war will have to be decided by “future presidents.” The frightening implication of this loaded statement is that US troops can expect to stay in Iraq for at least three more years.

The increased sectarian violence over the last month, which now threatens to become full-scale civil war, would catch US troops in the middle and make them targets for all factions. The US does not have enough troops to subdue a civil war. And, as a Marine who had served two tours of duty in Iraq suggested to me, if the way the US troops are being instructed to act continues, they will only continue to serve as a provocation to the situation in Iraq. Senators Kennedy and Kerry could, and hopefully will, play a positive role in changing US policy by attaching an amendment to the Iraq-war supplemental bill coming up next week, stating that “It is the policy of the United States to withdraw all US military troops and bases from Iraq” and initiating steps for a withdrawal this year.

Shelley BarronNewton

In the gameDavid Bernstein’s story about health reform (“Your Health Is in Their Hands,” March 17) seriously underplays the role the Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA) and its member hospitals have played in the development of a compromise health-reform package.

Throughout the intense negotiations between the Senate and the House, the MHA has been meeting with all the key players — the Health Care for All Coalition, the business community, the legislative leadership and conferees — to ensure that the hospital position is clear: expanded coverage, increased reimbursement, a secure safety net, affordable private-insurance plans, a common payment system, and both an employer assessment and an individual mandate.

Health reform has been our primary focus for months. To imply anything less does a disservice to the many hospital CEOs and others who have been up at the State House throughout the process.

Pork PlaceYour editorial on higher-education cuts (“College Students Be Damned,” March 24) raises a point worth exploring in depth: the reason why “obtaining a college degree continues to outstrip the rate of inflation.” Access to college not only enriches the graduate in earning power and cultural literacy, it also benefits the community and the country. We need an educated work force to compete globally, or so we’ve been told scores of times. So where’s the hearing on why college costs are going through the roof unchecked?

Could it have something to do with the pork barrel? Any member of Congress in a district with a federally supported college, university, or trade school might be reluctant to limit the slop for fear of slowing down the flow of dollars to his or her district. The many questions raised about private-sector profiteering from federal student-loan programs also hint at an answer, especially when the schools themselves feed off that revenue stream as loan originators.

I don’t expect high-level hearings anytime soon on these troubling questions. It would be great to see the Phoenix, one of the few relentlessly curious publications still around, dig into the issue here in the Athens of America.

Bush's secret army The 9/11 attacks provided a catalyst: an unprecedented justification to forge ahead with a radical agenda molded by a small cadre of neoconservative operatives.

Trapped in Iraq Watching the Senate Armed Services and the Foreign Relations Committees question Iraq proconsul General David Petraeus about the status of the war was a disturbing experience.

Debating the Middle East muddle US military aid to Pakistan and Afghanistan is being wasted and should be redirected to the police and moderate non-violent groups working for education and the rule of law, according to two Middle East experts who spoke Sunday at the Community Church of Providence.

It came from the sink Drainage spawns a genetic mutation — part salamander, part fish, part . . . vagina dentata? — that emerges from the Han’s banks.

Yes sir! David Zeiger’s Sir! No Sir! is yet another absorbing documentary that George W. won’t see, or want you to see, because, as the prez often cautions, “It sends the wrong message to our troops.”

MERCY AND SAL DIMASI | March 13, 2013 When it comes to showing a modicum of mercy to some of those convicted of federal crimes, Barack Obama is shaping up to have the worst track record of any president in recent memory.

NEXT, MARRIAGE EQUALITY | March 05, 2013 On March 27 and 28, the US Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in two cases that could essentially put America on the road to full marriage equality.

THUS SPAKE MARKEY | February 26, 2013 Last week, Congressman Ed Markey inadvertently injected some daring political thinking and a touch of historical imagination into the race to fill the US Senate seat vacated by John Kerry's appointment as secretary of state.

DRONES: 10 THOUGHTS | February 20, 2013 Foreign drone attacks are almost (but not quite yet) as American as apple pie.